The showdown took place on the final climb of the day as a group containing Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), Romain Bardet (Team DSM), Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) and Adam Yates and Geraint Thomas (both INEOS Grenadiers) made their way to the finish behind only solo breakaway Warren Barguil (Arkea Samsic).
Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) - 1st overall
The young Dane finished second last year but finally got his hands on the yellow jersey, working as part of a calculated team performance to put immense pressure on race leader Tadej Pogačar throughout the stage before launching a solo attack that cracked the Slovenian with 4.5 kilometres to go.
39 seconds behind Pogačar after yesterday's stage, Vingegaard's move saw him cross the finish on the Col du Granon as the stage winner 59 seconds ahead of second-placed Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) and 2 minutes and 51 seconds ahead of Pogačar, turning a 39-second deficit into a 2 minute and 22 second lead on the Slovenian.
Romain Bardet (Team DSM) - 2nd overall, +02:16
Bardet entered Stage 11 in 7th overall with a deficit of a minute and 39 seconds to top spot and made sure to get in the moves with other race favourites, staying on wheels he needed to in the lead-up to the final climb.
The Frenchman attacked from the GC group being led by Rafal Majka (UAE Team Emirates) with five kilometres to go in a big acceleration that only Vingegaard and Quintana could best, finishing third on the stage and improving to become the closest challenger to yellow.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) - 3rd overall, +02:22
The reigning Tour de France champion started another stage in yellow having comfortably handled attempts on previous stages from Vingegaard and Jumbo to cut into his lead. But with 70 kilometres to go, Jumbo-Visma's intentions to "make the race hard". as Pogačar put it. became clear, as Tiesj Benoot quickened the pace of the bunch for Vingegaard and Primož Roglič to go clear.
This meant the Slovenian ended up isolated from his teammates and having to deal with multiple attacks from Vingegaard and Roglič in an attempt to sap his energy, which at the time didn't look to be working as Pogačar even attacked away himself.
But when some of the other favourites as well as teammate Rafal Majka joined the group of four into the final climb, the impact of chasing down those attacks on Pogačar became clear as he failed to follow Vingegaard's attack before more and more riders passed him to the finish in a very rare scene for the two-time champion.
Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers) - 4th overall, +02:26
The Welshman endured a frustrating day as he dropped from third to fourth in the overall classification and now has a bigger deficit to the yellow jersey as a result of Vingegaard's blistering attack.
Thomas rode well to position himself close to Vingegaard and Pogačar and was one of the riders to pass the latter when he cracked in the last four kilometres, finishing fourth on the stage 8 seconds behind Bardet.
Along with his teammate Adam Yates in sixth overall, Thomas is now just one of two INEOS Grenadiers riders in the top 10 after they had four in earlier stages as both Dani Martinez and Tom Pidcock struggled during the stage.
Nairo Quintana (Arkea-Samsic) - 5th overall, +02:37
'Nairoman' was the biggest mover of the day as he jumped from 12th into the top five after jumping away in an attack that gradually saw him grow from the group of favourites just as the final climb began with 9.5 kilometres to go.
Setting his own tempo, he pushed out his advantage to 40 seconds over the other main contenders and soon became the main chaser of his teammate Barguil from the breakaway. Quintana did end up passing Barguil, but became the final casualty of Vingegaard's attack, the Dane passing him inside the last four kilometres.
Quintana's second place on the stage was sufficient to get him right back into the maillot jaune race.
The Tour de France continues with Stage 12, a special set-piece for the Tour de France with the summit finish to Alpe D'Huez on Bastille Day sure to bring out the best in the riders and fans. Watch from 8.55pm AEST on the SBS SKODA Tour Tracker and then from 9.30pm AEST on SBS and SBS On Demand.
